Foundation Studies in Art and Design 2010-2011

Pathway: Theatre Design for Performance

Project Title:

Narrative Spaces

Character Drawing by William Kentridge Project Context:

Storyboard ideas by artist/animator Blu

Telling a story through images forms the visual basis of all types of performance. Designers working within the theatre and performing arts will start by illustrating their ideas: these drawings may include a costume design for a character, a storyboard of scenes, an location drawing for a play or film, or even a large atmospheric drawing showing mood and lighting. Drawing helps define the performance world or narrative space where a story is told. Drawing also becomes an important tool in the production process as storyboards, costume schemes and technical drawings are all used as reference by makers and technicians to create the actual performance. However for the designer of such imagined performance worlds, the preliminary experimentation of ideas through the medium of drawing can often be the most exciting part of the creative process, where a freedom of possibilities can be explored. Project Description: The various drawing centred activities you will explore in this project will give you an awareness of the possibilities of drawing within a Theatre Design for Performance context. Measurement and research will inform all your work. The contextual introduction to this day workshop in B3 will show you examples of the uses of perspective and measurement within a theatre context. We will also look at different examples of drawing used in creating character, performance worlds, storyboarding and the moving image. The group will be divided into two parts, and join one of two workshops in which you will look at various aspects of drawing for a performance context. After lunch each group will swop around so you will experience both workshops. By the end of the day you will have explored the following elements through drawing, i.e. the performer in the performance space, stage architecture, telling a story or narrative, lighting and sound. Various drawing related exercises will guide you through these elements, thus creating your own narrative space. The Performer (B3) A life model will be placed within a perspective grid, as used in 18th century theatre and will wear different deconstructed garments. This workshop will focus on drawing the figure on stage, thus exploring the relationship between performer, stage and audience. Knowledge of the figure is vital for costume drawing. The model will wear different garments and you will explore these in relationship to the human form. You will consider through drawing how different body adornments suggest character and emotion. You will use perspective when drawing the figure and the stage grid, translating the 3D subject into 2D linear drawings. The Stage (B4) An architectural structure will be placed and lit in the studio forming an emotive performance landscape. This workshop will focus on drawing a performance space and explore its use through storyboard-like images. You will start by drawing the structure using perspective and tone to suggest atmosphere from a minimum of four different positions. You will then link these frames with a narrative or storyline by producing a final sequence of dramatic drawings that form your storyboard. You could animate these frames by including a figure/s. When creating your story imagine the lives or events occurring within your individual narrative space: What lies behind the door? What happened here? Are we in the past, present or future? You could use the summer reading and film list or something you discovered whilst drawing on the self-lead research day to inform and inspire your work.

Outcome:

Series of A1 figure drawings in costume elements Four tonal and atmospheric drawings of architectural structure on A1 sheet Storyboard on A1 sheet Materials required: You should bring the following into the studio everyday: Tool kit with eraser, soft pencils, scalpel, scissors, Stanley knife, Pritt stick, masking tape, a range of brushes, black and white drawing materials, black and white ink and paint, fine liners, fixative or hairspray for charcoal, camera (digital, digital SLR, phone) Portfolio for transporting flat work, sketchbooks, reflective journal Units: Unit 12 Drawing and Measurement Unit 16 Drawing and Research Refer to UALAB Drawing handbook or studio notice boards for details of unit criteria